2. Rhode Island General Assembly, Report of the Committee on the Action of the General Assembly, on the Subject of the Constitution, March Session, 1842. (N.p., [1842?]). (15 p.)


Committee report dealing with issues related to the Dorr Rebellion, in which proponents of a written state constitution rebelled against authority based on the colony’s royal charter from Great Britain. The charter gave disproportionate representation to rural districts, despite the state’s transformation into an industrialized, urban entity. This document articulates the position and thinking of the old guard.